Bealefeld hopes his legacy includes spurring community to action: Outgoing Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III took his last community walk as commissioner. During his five-year tenure leading the city force, Bealefeld emphasized community relations, attending sometimes three neighborhood walks per week and trying to repair the Police Department's image.

In Ocean City, open beer in public now can lead to arrest: On Monday night, at the direct request of the Ocean City Police Department, the Ocean City Town Council unanimously passed an "emergency ordinance" to change the punishment for possessing an open alcohol container in public from a municipal infraction to a misdemeanor offense.

Korean-American liquor store owners feel targeted by city: City health and planning officials want to strip 128 liquor stores of their licenses -- about a third of those licensed in Baltimore -- because, they say, the stores are linked to higher rates of violent criminal activity. About 90 percent of the liquor stores in Baltimore are owned by Korean-Americans, according to city estimates, and some community members believe the city is unfairly targeting Korean-owned businesses.

Rawlings-Blake challenged by council, comptroller: Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake came under fire on two fronts Monday as the City Council sliced $6 million from her proposed budget and the city comptroller renewed allegations that the mayor's staff improperly purchased more than $650,000 in phone equipment. Council members, following a plan devised by Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, cut $6.1 million from the mayor's $2.3 billion operating budget -- and asked Rawlings-Blake to divert the savings to prevent recreation centers from closing and to boost after-school and summer jobs programs.

City school evaluations show problems in instruction: As the Baltimore school system prepares to implement a more stringent curriculum next year, sample evaluations of more than two dozen schools show that many are struggling with how to effectively teach children.